The Latest from Natasha Lomas
ifeel, another well-being platform that blends self-care tools with 1-2-1 therapy, scores $6.6M
If the pandemic has been good for anything it’s been good for the therapy business and for startups targeting mental health, with VCs kept very busy signing checks. To wit, here’s another
Facebook’s hand-picked ‘oversight’ panel upholds Trump ban — for now
Facebook’s content decision review body, a quasi-external panel that’s been likened to a ‘Supreme Court of Facebook’ but isn’t staffed by sitting judges, can’t be t
Disqus facing $3M fine in Norway for tracking users without consent
Disqus, a commenting plug-in that’s used by a number of news websites and which can share user data for ad targeting purposes, is in hot water in Norway for tracking users without their consent.
StudySmarter books $15M for a global ‘personalized learning’ push
More money for the edtech boom: Munich-based StudySmarter, which makes digital tools to help learners of all ages swot up — styling itself as a “lifelong learning platform” — h
Personalized nutrition startup Zoe closes out Series B at $53M total raise
Personalized nutrition startup Zoe — named not for a person but after the Greek word for ‘life’ — has topped up its Series B round with $20M, bringing the total raised to $53M.
Europe charges Apple with antitrust breach, citing Spotify App Store complaint
The European Commission has issued a formal ‘statement of objections’ against Apple, saying today that its preliminary view is Apple’s app store rules distort competition in the mark
TravelPerk raises $160M in equity and debt after a year of derailed business trips
The pandemic has hammered the travel sector over the past 12 months so you’d be forgiven for feeling a bit of pre-COVID-19 déjà vu at this news: Business trip booking platform TravelPerk is an
EU adopts rules on one-hour takedowns for terrorist content
The European Parliament approved a new law on terrorist content takedowns yesterday, paving the way for one-hour removals to become the legal standard across the EU. The regulation “addressing t
Kaia Health grabs $75M on surging interest in its virtual therapies for chronic pain and COPD
New York headquartered Kaia Health, which offers AI-assisted digital therapies via a mobile app for chronic pain related to musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders and for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseas
Telegram to add group video calls next month
Group video calls will be coming to Telegram’s messaging platform next month with what’s being touted as a fully featured implementation, including support for web-based videoconferencing.
The UK’s plan to tackle big tech won’t be one-size fits all
The director of a new unit set up this month inside the UK’s competition watchdog — with a dedicated focus on tech giants’ impacts on digital markets — has been giving a hint o
TikTok to open a ‘Transparency’ Center in Europe to take content and security questions
TikTok will open a center in Europe where outside experts will be shown information on how it approaches content moderation and recommendation, as well as platform security and user privacy, it announ
Kry closes $312M Series D after use of its telehealth tools grows 100% yoy
Swedish digital health startup Kry, which offers a telehealth service (and software tools) to connect clinicians with patients for remote consultations, last raised just before the pandemic hit in Wes
EU’s top data protection supervisor urges ban on facial recognition in public
The European Union’s lead data protection supervisor has called for remote biometric surveillance in public places to be banned outright under incoming AI legislation. The European Data Protecti
Europe lays out plan for risk-based AI rules to boost trust and uptake
European Union lawmakers have presented their risk-based proposal for regulating high risk applications of artificial intelligence within the bloc’s single market. The plan includes prohibitions
UK’s IoT ‘security by design’ law will cover smartphones too
Smartphones will be included in the scope of a planned “security by design” U.K. law aimed at beefing up the security of consumer devices, the government said today. It made the announceme
UK drone startup sees.ai gets go ahead to trial beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flights
The U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has given the go ahead to local startup sees.ai, which is developing a beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) command & control solution to aid data ca
UK gov’t triggers national security scrutiny of Nvidia-Arm deal
The U.K. government has intervened to trigger public interest scrutiny of chipmaker’s Nvidia’s plan to buy Arm Holdings. The secretary of state for digital issues, Oliver Dowden, said toda
AI-driven audio cloning startup gives voice to Einstein chatbot
You’ll need to prick up your ears for this slice of deepfakery emerging from the wacky world of synthesized media: A digital version of Albert Einstein — with a synthesized voice that̵
Facebook’s decision-review body to take ‘weeks’ longer over Trump ban call
Facebook’s self-styled and handpicked “Oversight Board” will make a decision on whether or not to overturn an indefinite suspension of the account of former president Donald Trump wi